Repairs to part of Jeffersontown road that collapsed from heavy rain could take 2 months

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It looks like something out of a disaster movie or an episode of "Stranger Things." A giant crater in the middle of a busy road in Jeffersontown.

It didn't take long for Tuesday's heavy rain to flood Plantside Drive and rip it apart. But it could take up to two months to repair it.

Drivers and customers can still reach nearby businesses, but may have to take an alternate route to get there.

"We saw it the day it happened and it was, it was scary looking," Coleman Groves said.

It's hard to miss, a gaping hole along the busy road that runs through an industrial park.

While the heavy rain wrecked the road, the area isn't shut down.

"United Refrigeration is one of our like main supply houses that we go to regularly, and we had to take the detour," Vince Magruder, with Magruder Heating and Air, said.

City officials said the flooding was unusual and intense, washing out the soil beneath the pavement and exposing a water pipe.

"One of my employees was going home at 3:30 (p.m.) and he called me, said 'Jim, you might want to come out here. The right lane has a little kink in the asphalt.' I said 'be right there.' I left the office, came straight here, the right lane was gone," Jimmy Franconia, director of Metro Public Works, said.

Franconia said within minutes, part of the road caved in.

"And you could look at the far side of the road and (it) had a little indention in it," he said. "I said 'It's going to go too,' so we shut down Plantside Drive. About 45 minutes later, it all caved in."

Thankfully, Franconia said no one was on the road when it collapsed.

"That was the biggest blessing and the shining armor of the whole day," he said. "It was at 4 p.m. when (it) all opened up. No cars, no tractor and trailers on a very busy artery here."

This isn't the first time flooding has damaged a major Jeffersontown roadway. In 2020, Bunsen Way was closed when a galvanized pipe carrying water from Chenoweth Creek was full and clogged by too much water.

"Mayor (Carol) Pike wants to expedite this to minimize any kind of problems we have in the industrial park," said Franconia. "She passed a resolution to make emergency bidding."

Right now, crews are on site securing water and gas lines as they meet with contractors.

"I've asked them to design and build a 100% cure that this will never happen again. They are all to turn in next Tuesday," Franconia said.

Despite the massive damage to Plantside Drive, access to the industrial park remains open. But in some cases, from the opposite side.

"Obviously, we come from this way most of the time. We had to swing around and I didn't even know I could get through, but I made it through," said Magruder.

Once construction starts to repair the damage, officials anticipate it will take about two months to complete.

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